


Being Human

by CastleBylers



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angsty at some points, Fluff, Homophobia, M/M, Mike is bi deal with it, byler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-11 22:17:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12945183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastleBylers/pseuds/CastleBylers
Summary: Thanks to a meme I found on Twitter ( https://goo.gl/ctFAYw ), this is where Will accidentally let slip something that he thinks he shouldn't have, after a game of D&D one night, and starts the ball rolling for what is going to become eventually his life. Mike, still sad from the end of his and Eleven's relationship needs something, or someone to make him happy again. This story has no real overarching storyline, it's just going wherever I take it.





	1. The End.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing on hiatus until after summer 2018 because I have a ton of exams to revise for.  
> The first thing I've put online, so gonna be 100% trash you've been warned.  
> Inspiration credit goes to a stranger from Twitter who wrote one about this, because I didn't think I could, but I got inspired.  
> Story set ~2 months after the end of Season 2.  
> Lastly, apologies for any different spelling, or Anglicisms in here, I'm using UK English, not US English.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike goes it alone.

**Prologue**

‘You don’t want to be friends anymore?’ – El looked mortified.

‘No, no, no – of course I want to be friends with you – I, I still really, really like you El’ - Mike felt utterly terrible, but knew he had to finish, now he had started: ‘But I, I just don’t think I can do this – _this_ ’ said Mike, drawing El’s attention to their connected hands. ‘anymore. I’m really sorry El, I really am.’

‘Mike?’

‘Yes?’

‘Are we still friends?’

‘Of course El, I still love hanging out with you, I just think you need to go out, and learn about the world, and talk to some new people, and hang out with me and Will and Dustin and Lucas some more, before we come back to this.’

‘But why now?’

‘El, I’m so sorry, it’s just so hard to… so difficult to…’ Mike couldn’t think of anything to say but one thing, something he’s never said to El before: ‘I still love yo-’

‘Hey, kid? Kid? It’s time for you to go home, your Mum’s here, she’s giving you a ride.’ – Hopper arrived in El’s bedroom doorway.

‘Please’ begged Mike: ‘Just 5 more minutes!’ – Hopper had appeared at exactly the wrong moment, there was still so much Mike needed to say, he couldn’t just leave everything right here, right now, he needed to explain, to try and-

‘She’s waiting outside kid, get going.’ replied Hopper, completely unaware of the gravity of the situation.

‘El please, I am going to talk to you soon, okay?’ said Mike, taking as long to stand up as possible and untangle legs from El’s.

‘Kid! Get outta here, she’s waiting!’ hurried Hopper, manhandling Mike, to get him to leave the room.

‘Mike? Wh-’ began El, but her words were cut off as Hopper swung the door shut behind him, with Mike on the wrong side of it.

Mike didn’t talk to his Mum at all on the way back home, but instead sat quietly in the back seat, and tried to cry as quietly as possible, so his Mum wouldn’t notice. He knew this moment had had to have come at some point, El hadn’t even fully mastered English yet, and so was nowhere near mature, or stable enough to hold down a serious relationship – but right then that provided no solace for him. He had just broken a young girl’s, and his, heart, and didn’t even get to tell her why. He spent the rest of the journey home watching his breath slowly fade away, after it left a cloudy mark on the car window, watching as it was occasionally illuminated by the odd streetlamp. Was everything this fucking temporary? Was El and him doomed from the start, or did this not have to happen at all? ‘Fucking stupid.’ He thought to himself, over and over again – why did he have to do that, he was just being fucking stupid, caring too much. They’d have been able to work everything out right? Fucking stupid.

 

‘FUCK!’ – shouted Mike, at the top of his lungs, when he got back to his house, and was sitting alone in the basement.

‘Language!’ replied Ted, bellowing back down the stairs.

At this point, Mike would usually have tried to argue with his Dad, but instead he just sat down on the floor, back leaning against the wall, and cried. He cried until his eyes were sore and red and puffy from the tears, but then something even worse happened. He looked up, and saw the most heart-breaking sight – the chairs, and bundle of blankets, which El slept under for so long, which Mike called for under for so long, but now everything was gone.

Mike did talk to El again the next day, and tried the best he could to explain everything, why he had to be so stupid, but why he knew he was right all the same, but knew it was not enough. El, young and inexperienced though she was, realised the completely traumatised and terrible mental state Mike was in right now. She simply reached out, and put her arms around him, as they sat outside in the woodland near Hopper’s house, and hugged him.

‘It’s okay Mike. We are still friends.’

But Mike didn’t go back after that. He never went to visit El at her house after that. He thought it would be just too painful for him, and El, and didn’t want to put her through anything more. He was still kind, and tried his best to be happy when he saw her around school, but he sensed that, and she knew that, something was different, wrong.

He lost interest in school activities, the AV club, he hadn’t set up a D&D campaign in a month, he hadn’t seen any of his friends outside of school – Mike was in a thoroughly depressed state.

His Mum, and Nancy had both tried to find out what was wrong with him, but Mike wouldn’t, couldn’t tell them – he just felt too sad. Even Ted even came down to the basement once or twice, when Mike was down there alone (most likely under the direction of his Mum, who thought perhaps it was a manly thing) but all of this unusual sympathy was just too much for Mike, it made him more closed off than ever. He was hardly ever seen outside of school, outside of his basement anymore – but all that was going to change.


	2. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone found Mike.

‘No.’ shouted Mike up the stairs. This was his usual response now, when Karen Wheeler ever called down to his basement, usually coming to try and persuade his to join in a ‘wholesome’ family activity – the thought of which made Mike feel sick.

‘It’s not me this time honey, it’s Will.’ – replied Karen Wheeler, softly.

Mike didn’t know what to say, he didn’t want to send Will away, given that he was standing right there, at the top of his stairs, but he didn’t want to talk to anyone really either.

‘Okay.’ He replied feebly. ‘Thanks mum.’

But at the sight of Will’s jeans and trainers gingerly treading down the stairs, something changed inside of Mike. A little shiver ran down the back of his spine, and something stirred in the pit of his stomach. It must just be because this was the first friend who had been down here in weeks and weeks. Whenever Will had asked to come around recently, Mike had always pretended he was really busy, in an effort not to hurt Will’s feelings, and when Will had asked him what was wrong, as it was not hard to spot, Mike had always pretended he was fine, or simply hadn’t gotten enough sleep. But Will had noticed, evidently, the first person not in his family to do so, and had by the looks of it forced his mum to let him in, so here he was.

Will, like El, did the best thing possible at that moment in time, he walked over to Mike caringly, and hugged him so tightly that for a few seconds, Mike and Will could hear their heartbeats beating as one. Mike nestled his head into Will’s shoulder (easy, given the height difference), and stayed there, not letting go, not leaving Mike until he knew he was absolutely ready to. Mike knew there was no point hiding the sadness inside him anymore, and so when he finally pulled away, after almost a minute, there was still a tear from earlier slowly rolling down his cheek from earlier, that he hadn’t bothered to wipe with his sleeve. Will reached out with his hand, warmed up from the cold outside thanks to it being wrapped tightly around Mike Wheeler’s waist, and wiped the tear from his cheek.

‘Mike, please. Tell me what’s wrong.’ implored Will.

But this time Mike didn’t try to hide it anymore. He sat on a ragged sofa with Will, and after a few hesitations on how much he wanted to say, and stuttering, everything just came spewing out: the break up, the look of hurt on El’s face, how he had not visited her since, how he now felt just so alone, like he’d lost a part of himself, and how no amount of Dungeons and Dragons could seem to fill that hole.

When Mike had finished his rant, Will wrapped his arm around Mike again, and waited a few seconds before replying.

‘I’m sorry. I know how it feels too you know.’

‘What?’ said Mike, taken completely by surprise – had he missed so much this past month that an entire relationship had gone down without his knowledge?

‘I haven’t dated anyone or anything,’ laughed Will ‘but I do know how it feels to really love someone, and for them not to be around you, or with you as much as you’d want.’

‘You?’ replied Mike, all sorrow temporarily forgotten, as he was so taken aback by what Will had said.

‘Yeah, I know, me.’ replied Will, laughing, but with a touch of sadness all the same.

But knowing that he wasn’t alone seemed to soothe Mike, and as he sat there, with Will’s arm around him, and with his body pressed into his side, thanks to an unfortunate (or fortunate – he wasn’t quite sure) lack of stuffing in one part of the old sofa. He felt like a great weight, crushing him into his feelings of sadness, and loneliness, and anger, and guilt, had just been lifted, all thanks to Will.

‘Will?’ asked Mike.

‘Yeah?’ replied Will.

Mike wasn’t quite sure what to say, he didn’t know how to express these feelings he was feeling, both about himself, and for Will quite yet in words, but he managed to get out a very voice-cracked ‘Thanks Will.’

They sat in silence for another minute or two, before Will said something else.

‘Can I stay the night? I mean just because it’s dark now, and you know I’m still not great at cycling by myself, and…’

‘And?’ asked Mike.

‘And, I care about you Mike.’

This was, despite how kind Will had just been to Mike, staying with him (Mike just looked at his watch) for 2 hours listening to him talk, and how much he had always cared about Mike, and how much Mike cared about Will, still slightly out of character. It was usually only an unspoken agreement that they really cared for each other, but neither of them had ever dared admit it before – it might look gay, and that would be terrible.

‘Yeah, sure. I’d like that.’

And so, Mike got Will out a sleeping bag, and let Will sleep on the sofa in the basement, while he slept on the floor.

They gratefully ate the food the Mrs. Wheeler gave to them, and there was a sense of Deja-vu in both of them. All of the last times they had had sleepovers was when Mike stayed at Will’s house, when he was feeling shaky, or still having visions of the Upside Down, but now their roles were reversed. Will did that night what Mike always had used to do, talk about completely irrelevant things, thinks that were of no importance to real life, but things that took both of their minds off the matters-in-hand, and for that Mike was incredibly thankful.

Before they both said goodnight, Will gave Mike one last hug, burying his face into Mike’s chest, and for the first time in a very long while, Mike felt okay. Not perfect, the wounds of El would probably turn into scars, but okay. And he had Will now.


	3. The Let-Slip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will says something he didn't mean to let out.

Will came around a lot to Mike’s house over the next few days and weeks, and Mike’s happiness enormously improved. At long last, he began to plan. A new Dungeons and Dragons campaign. It wouldn’t be the best by any standards, but Mike felt the feelings of guilt creep up inside of him like a virus, as he felt that he might have been mean, or neglectful towards Dustin or Lucas, and so was very pleased when they both happily agreed to come around. Mike was thankful that Lucas didn’t ask if he could invite Max around just yet – he still didn’t quite know her very well, and just wanted to hang out with the people he did.

Mike noticed another change too, whenever he was around school, or whenever he came around to his house, he kept noticing Will that much more. It was probably just because Will had been so unfathomably kind to him recently, barely leaving his side. But he still noticed his eyes. And that little smile he had, whenever he saw Mike. He also thought, although he’d never dare ask if, Will noticed him too. There would often be moments when he’d suddenly finding himself locking eyes with him across the classroom, and then quickly look away and pretend he was scanning the room for someone else, or where in the school canteen, when he was reaching out to buy some food, his hand would brush Will’s. Mike secretly loved these moments, the adrenaline rush, often the dilated pupils, even sometimes the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, but every time this happened he was reminded of Troy, his, and Will’s bully. Calling him gay, calling him a faggot. And he remembered his Dad, telling him to be manly, and to hang around more girls. He tried desperately to push these thoughts to the back of his mind, but they kept coming back – what, after all these long 8 years, he thought about Will in a different way? Or had he always thought about Will in this way, but was too stupid; too scared to realise it? But, Mike questioned himself, what was ‘this way’? He didn’t notice yet. But, he did notice a small freckle on the back of Will’s neck, when he caught himself staring at him in a biology lesson.

Aside from the mental images of Troy, and his Dad, there was also another, more unexpected problem, Dustin. Although Lucas seemed blissfully unaware of all of the feelings that Mike (and Will?) were currently experiencing, Dustin was completely the opposite. After the Snow Ball, despite having no one in his year to dance with, Dustin now considered himself the ‘romantic expert’ of the group, and whenever Mike caught himself staring in Will’s direction, with dreamy eyes, unaware of anyone or anything else in that particular moment, he’d often receive a gentle poke in the ribs from Dustin, and occasionally, a wink. Mike didn’t know just how much Dustin knew about the feelings he was experiencing at the moment, but he hoped, with all of his heart, that he really wasn’t the ‘romantic expert’ of the group.

Anyway, it was now time. Time for the first D&D campaign that the 4 of them had played for a very long while, as they hadn’t played very much previously, if not because of Mike, because of Will’s visions, and they were all far too worried about him to care for anything else. But, that weekend Will, Dustin, and Lucas came around to Mike’s basement, and they had a hell of a campaign. Lasting seven and a half hours, it was eventually won by Lucas, who proceeded to parade around the room like an idiot for a solid 5 minutes, before Dustin told him it was getting ‘fucking annoying’ so to stop it. But again, when Mike lent his hand out to reach for the dice, Will accidentally kept brushing his hand against him, which in the end was only stopped by Lucas joking that Mike and Will both looked high on drugs, by the size of their pupils, to which Dusting let out the tiniest smirk at, but was still noticed by Mike.

Eventually though, at 21h30, it was time for them to leave, everyone having had a thoroughly good time, and so all 4 boys traipsed through to the garage, where all of them would soon depart on their bikes, as Mike said he’d ride with Will on the way home, as he still hadn’t fully worked his confidence all of the way up. Lucas and Dustin both gave Mike a thanks, and made a special effort to say they had a great time, because even they weren’t oblivious to Mike’s improved emotional state, before they both took off, racing, on their bikes, trying to see who could bet back to Dustin’s first on their bikes.

It was just Mike and Will left outside now. It was a cold night, as there was no cloud cover, and the moon was bright, lighting up Mike’s eyes. Mike, suddenly noticing that it was only the two of them, felt sudden goose bumps all the way up his arm, and a tingly sensation in the bottom of his stomach. He quickly blamed this on the cold. As soon as Will realised that they were both alone however, he began to look really stressed, like that one time he completely forgot to do his homework for Geography. Just before Mike and Will were about to depart, Mike asked Will if there was anything wrong.

‘Oh, no, it’s just…’

‘What is it?’ inquired Mike.

‘It’s nothing, it’s just, you look pretty tonight.’ Said Will, beginning slowly, and ending incredibly quickly. Hardly believing he just said out loud what he did.

‘What did you say?’ spluttered Mike, hardly believing that Will just said what he did either.

‘Uhh I said you look shitty, Goodnight!’ stammered Will, and turned as quickly as humanly possible, and sped away into the night.

Mike couldn’t quite believe his ears. Did Will really just say that? Did he mean what Mike thought he meant? Did that mean he was having these feelings too? (Mike remembered Will’s dilated pupils). Should he have said something too? Did Will think he was angry at him when he asked ‘What did you say?’ Mike was so consumed by these questions that he hardly noticed as Will’s bike sped off into the night, and only realised a minute later that it was far too late to try and follow him now, he’d already be too far away to catch up.

Will, on the other hand, was no different. He cycled back as fast as he could, petrified that Mike might try to catch up with him, and ask him what the fuck he just said. When he arrived back home he ran straight to his room, shouted at his Mum that he was fine, given that he had just burst through the door, and sprinted to his bedroom, before hid himself under the covers. Once he had calmed down, and the adrenaline rush had subsided (after about half an hour), it was replaced by the only worse thing. Dread.

This happened on a Sunday night, which mean only 1 thing – school tomorrow. He’d have to see Mike, and try and explain himself, for what the fuck he just said. He was sure that Mike would be angry – his family were very traditional after all, and so Mike probably would be too, and in the past 8 years Mike had never shown any signs of liking him in that way – oh WHAT was he thinking? What if Mike thought that if he was gay (he kicked himself for using that word, he tried to push it to the back of his mind – his Dad always hated it) he would have to be excluded from the friendship group, given that Mike was much closer to the others than he was – then as well as ‘zombie boy’, he’d be ‘loner boy’, and ‘gay boy’.


	4. The Realisation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They both realise what they both already knew.

Apart from when he was inside the Upside Down, and when he was sick with grief for what, at the time, he thought was Will’s death, Will and Mike had their worst ever nights of sleep. But, by morning, Mike had a plan.

Will, on the other hand, woke up the next morning and felt sick, almost like there was another type of beast from the Upside Down living inside of him again. Indeed, when Will walked into the kitchen to make breakfast, Joyce shot an unconvincingly disguised look of fear at Johnathon, which Will saw, but, caring for his Mother, told her he just felt stressed about missing so much schoolwork. This, evidently, turned out to be a terrible idea, given that it ruled out any chance of Will being allowed a day off, given he’d just given the one reason he really needed to go in.

The car ride with Johnathon seemed to take no time at all that day, and nothing could seem to calm Will down, despite Johnathon’s best efforts of singling to the radio in the car on the way to school. Will asked Johnathon if he could be dropped off around the back of the school, to squash any chance of Mike seeing him on the way in. Johnathon looked slightly concerned, and asked him if everything was okay, but agreed. Before he knew it, Will was getting out of the car, saying thanks and bye to Johnathon, and taking painful steps towards Hawkins Middle School.

When he arrived, this was the first day he didn’t notice in the slightest all of the concerned looks he was getting from all of his peers (he was the zombie boy after all), and half walked, half ran to his locker, feeling like he might throw up. However, when he arrived, fumbled in the combination to open the locker, and pulled open the door, something flew out. Will quickly picked it up off the floor, scared that Troy, or one of his friends might have seen it, and grab it off him. He opened it up, and read it to himself.

‘Meet me in the A.V. Room after school, M.W.’

Will’s stomach dropped like a stone – this was it.

The day dragged by, the lessons taking twice as long as usual (thankfully that day was the only one on his timetable where he shared no subjects with Mike – usually hell for him, but now he was thankful), and break and lunch being a nightmare, given that he was hiding from Mike the entire time, and so had to go and eat lunch by himself, in the toilets – something Will had vivid memories of doing before, when Mike, or Dustin and Lucas were off sick – it was the only way to hide from the staring eyes and pointing fingers.

But, finally, the end of the day came, and it now felt like judgement day for Will – compared to this, the Upside Down didn’t seem so bad, but he felt his feet walk him to the A.V. Room after school, and, with a shaking hand, pushed open the door left ajar.

Mike didn’t see him come in at first, as he was pacing, but jumped almost half a foot in the air when he saw Will standing there.

‘Can you close the door’ asked Mike quietly after, his voice shaking a little.

Will quickly closed the door, and then took a seat at the table in the middle of the room.

‘Look’ began Mike ‘I just want to talk about last night. I know what you _really_ said, and I just wanted to say that-’

‘I’m sorry’ interrupted Will: ‘I know I should never have said that, it’s wrong to be, to be _gay_ , I know, I don’t know what got into me, please don’t kick me out of this group, you’re the only people I’ve got-’

‘I thought you looked pretty too’ said Mike, silencing Will with these words.

‘What?’ replied Will, dumbfounded.

‘I’ve been thinking. I, I think I’ve always had these feelings somewhere inside, but, but I just didn’t realise they were there, here, until now.’

Mike suddenly felt horrified that he had gone too far, and alienated Will, if he didn’t actually mean it – but then, after what felt like an eternity for Mike, Will said:

‘I’ve always really liked you too Mike.’

And then, possibly the most magical moment in Mike and Will’s life happened. They both lent in at the same time, and kissed each other lightly on the lips. It wasn’t particularly a very long kiss, or probably a very good kiss, but it was, in Will and Mike’s opinion, one of the best things they had ever done.

They let their head’s rest together for a minute, but eventually, they pulled back, and gazed at each other in their eyes. Now they had let go of all the fear, all the prejudice, they could finally appreciate each other, and realise how much Mike Wheeler was in love with Will Byers, and how much Will Byers was in love with Mike Wheeler.

Eventually, Will spoke:

‘Mike?’

‘Yeah?’ replied Mike, giddily smiling.

‘Do you want to come round to my house, for a sleepover?’

‘That sounds brilliant.’

As they prepared to leave, Mike did something he hadn’t done for quite a while, he offered Will a ride on the back of his bike. He hadn’t let anyone sit there since he broke up with El, but with Will, right now, it seemed fitting. So, after checking no one was around to look, Will clambered on, pulled up his legs, and wrapped his arms softly around Mike’s middle, and they set off.

This sleepover however, it was different. Instead of talking about rubbish, and comic books, and D&D all night (talking about girls were never really their thing) they stayed up late, whispering, lest Johnathon hear, and know that they were still up. They talked about everything, from kindergarten until now, about how much they cared about each other, about all of the times they ‘accidentally’ touched hands, laughing about how silly it all seemed now, whether or not Dustin really knew – but at that point, they didn’t really care – Mike had Will, and Will had Mike.

At long last, although they still had so much to talk about, they fell asleep out of pure exhaustion. Mike had long abandoned any thoughts of sleeping on the floor, and instead shared the small, single bed with Will. Their legs and arms lay in a tangled mess around each other, heads toughing, and later, when Joyce got back from her shift and checked on them, Will looked the safest and happiest he had been for a long, long time. Joyce beamed to herself in the dark, the happiest she had been for a long time too.


	5. The Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joyce lets something slip, Mike's life look's like it's ruined.

The morning eventually came, but Mike woke much earlier that day. He woke about an hour before he was meant to, his mind racing, but didn’t move away, in fear of waking Will. However, he spent all of this time looking at Will, lying blissfully asleep, facing him, with their heads only an inch apart. It took Mike this long to simply register all of Will’s beauty. He looked so cute, even when he was asleep. Very slowly, and very carefully, he reached out his warm hand, previously resting on Will’s chest, and wiped a small amount of saliva, slowly exiting from Will’s mouth, as he lay on his side, before reaching over again, and placing his arms around Will’s small body.

Eventually, Will woke up. Mike watched him come around, and slowly open his eyes, to see Mike – perfectly imperfect, with bed hair and sleepy face – looking back at him. They both simply lay there and appreciated each other for a while, remembering vividly the events of the day and night before, slightly scared, but holding each other all the same – until they finally decided to get up.

As Mike hadn’t gone home the previous night, calling his parents from the Byers house late at night, so they wouldn’t be able to come and collect him, he had had to sleep in his underwear, and an old vest. All the same he slipped his old school clothes on, forgoing a shower – he felt like having one would wash away all the feelings and thoughts that were currently facing around his body and mind, and, despite not quite understanding them all yet, he very much liked having them there. He and Will didn’t say much to each other just yet, neither of them knew what to say – so they just enjoyed being together, appreciating each other’s company, even without words.

When they walked into the kitchen for breakfast, Joyce was simply beaming from ear to ear, and spontaneously made them pancakes, unheard of before school usually in the Byers household. After breakfast, and after they brushed their teeth, and combed their hair (after the insistence of Joyce – Mike looked like he had just crawled out of a bush) they were ready to leave.

But then, Mike’s so-far perfect day was ruined. Joyce was chatting to Karen Wheeler on the phone.

‘Yeah of course, Mike’s been a pleasure, and he looked just adorable with Will in bed when they were sleeping!’

Mike was rooted to the spot.

‘Yes, he was in Will’s bed. Didn’t you know? I had just thought after all that time Will was spending around yours-’

Then, all of the colour suddenly drained from Joyce’s face, she knew that she, nor Johnathon, gave a damn if Will, or Mike for that matter, liked other boys, but she knew that the Wheeler family was much more traditional. She just realised that she had done. Her eyes met with Mike’s for a second, before Mike ran out of the house, and threw himself, almost violently, into the back of the car that Johnathon was waiting in. Will, also in the back for once, took hold of Mike’s hand surreptitiously, but felt that it was now cold and clammy with sweat.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked caringly.

Mike didn’t answer for a second, but then whispered, more to himself than anyone else:

‘Mum knows.’

You knew Will was truly Joyce’s son at this point, because, in a single moment, all of the colour drained from his face too.

‘Do you think she’ll tell your Dad?’ Will whispered back, knowing that while Karen Wheeler would probably be shocked, but eventually get over it, Ted was different, Ted was older.

Mike didn’t answer verbally, but looked at Will with pure terror in his eyes. Whilst Ted didn’t seem to care too much about Mike, he could always tell when something was wrong with his Mum, and so the truth was sure to come out, within hours, if not minutes. A fag in the family – Mike couldn’t bear the thought, he tried to beat the idea down to the bottom of his mind – but it just wouldn’t go away. He knew, deep down, that he loved Will. But Will was a boy. And that was not okay. But he knew he did, and Will was the only person in the world who could make him as happy as, happier than he was with El. But Will was a boy. Will was a goddamn boy. Will was a fucking boy. And that was not okay.

At school that day, Mike was in a state of shellshock. Although (thankfully) Will had not mentioned anything of their newfound relationship to anyone, when he was sure no one was looking, he grabbed onto, and held onto Will’s had for what seemed like dear life. But, as it always does when you don’t want it to, the day flew by. Mike could have sworn that the day had gone by twice as fast as usual, and when his maths teacher had noticed his lack of colour in his face, and asked him if he was ill, or wanted to go home, Mike almost shouted no at her, dreading the sight of his house.

But, like Will, judgement day, judgement hour had arrived. Mike’s hands were visibly shaking as he took hold of the handlebars of his bike, which he had parked around the back of school instead of the front, in case his Mum was waiting to pick him up in her car – if he had to talk to his parents, he wanted an easy escape.

He cycled home at a snail’s pace, trying to come up with arguments he could try out against his parents as to explain why he was sleeping with Will, each more feeble than the last. But, he realised he couldn’t put this off forever, time to get this over, whatever the consequences might be. His mid-length black hair, now starting to curl, fell back in front of his face, as, with the lack of wind, he started to feel how really hot he was from his cycle – he must have accidentally sped up thinking about everything; he slowed down to a standstill.

His house stood in front of him, solid as a rock, reaching high above Mike’s head, like a barrier, that Mike somehow had to overcome, if he wanted to be with Will.

But it was time now.

Mike knew he was in love again. There was no stopping this now.

He walked up to his house’s front door, turned the handle, closed his eyes, and pushed it open.


	6. The Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family knows.

He swayed on the spot for a second, and then opened his eyes. His Mum, and his Dad were waiting for him, sitting on the stairs behind the door together, and as soon as Mike entered the room, he knew that they knew, and as soon as Mike entered through the front door, they knew that he knew what was about to happen.

‘Mike-’ began Karen Wheeler, but she was soon interrupted by her husband.

‘Is it true, son?’

And with that, Mike sunk down, sitting in the middle of his hallway floor. All of his pent up emotions and fears from that day were suddenly released at once – tears welling up, and falling from his eyes, faster than they’d ever had done before.

‘Jesus Christ.’ ‘Fuck.’ muttered Ted.

‘Mike…’ began Karen Wheeler, ‘is it… true?’

Mike still didn’t say a word, but whilst his body shook with sobs, he managed to nod his head slightly.

At this Ted spontaneously stood up, but instead of going to comfort his son, he only spoke to him:

‘Mike, this isn’t ok. You cannot, I repeat - cannot, just go around with other boys, sleeping with other boys,’ He paused for a second: ‘ _kissing_ other boys. It’s not natural. You’ll get diseases – don’t you know all faggots catch AIDS?’

‘Ted, please, have some sympath-’ began Mike’s Mum, but once again she was interrupted.

‘Mike, God loves – loved – you, this is a Christian household, you can’t just be like this. You need to find a girl – a nice, normal, American girl – not that commie scum girl – and love her instead. Just be normal.’

Mike looked up, his face wet with tears, and opened his mouth to speak, but Ted carried on.

‘Because, if you are gay, if you are gay, I don’t know how I’m going to live with you.’

These words caused silence across the room. Mike’s sobs stopped, as he looked up again, fear, like a thrill, running through his veins. But this silence was, after almost a minute, broken – not by Mike, but with Karen Wheeler.

‘But I do.’ she said quietly, having broken her lengthy silence at last. ‘Mike, please, look at me Michael.’

Mike looked up

‘You’re still my s-.’

‘Who’s still what now?’ A voice called down the stairs – Nancy, blissfully unaware of the situation, arrived in the hallway, dressed to go out.

‘Oh my God, Mike – what’s wrong?’ exclaimed Nancy, seeing the state of Mike on the hall floor.

‘He’s gay, Nancy.’ muttered Ted, but with a strange sharpness in his voice.

Nancy didn’t respond for a second or two, but finally, she spoke, with all time she now spent around Johnathon finally paying off, for Mike at least:

‘So, why is he crying?’

She walked up to Mike, and held out her hand. Although slightly taken aback by his sister’s kindness, Mike allowed his body to be pulled to its feet, and held around the shoulders by Nancy. She repeated her question:

‘So, as there’s _nothing_ wrong with that, why is she crying?

‘Nothing wrong with that?’ began Ted ‘Are you being serious?’

‘Yes, yes I am.’ Replied Nancy firmly, and she moved around, to create an effectual barrier between Mike and Ted.

After that moment, there was yet another silence, this time only broken by a hurried knock on the door.

‘We’re busy!’ Ted gruffly shouted at the door, but the voice behind it replied.

‘It’s Joyce!’

‘And we’re busy! Replied Ted, not moving from his spot, or making any sound that might indicate he was going to open the door.

However, Nancy turned around, still holding a crying Mike under one arm, and swung the door open.

Mike turned around and blinked, astonished. Joyce stood square and central in the doorframe, but she was not alone. She had Johnathon holding one hand, and Will holding the other. Despite the fact that he could barely see with the amount of tears rolling down from his eyes at the moment, Mike could still make out his shape, and his heart leapt. But still, that was not all. Mike could also make out a blurred, black, chunky object in Will’s hand – a walkie-talkie. And, as he looked further up, he saw Dustin, and Lucas, both with looks of anguish and fearfulness on their faces, but both who smiled when they saw Mike, both of them too holding walkie-talkies in their hands. Joyce marched through the front door with Johnathon right behind her, and joined Nancy’s protective barrier between Ted and Mike. Mike also felt Will’s hand slip into his at that moment, and, suddenly, he felt safer. Lastly, Dustin and Lucas marched through the door, with as much toughness as they possibly could muster, and stood either side of Mike and Will, and stared as menacingly as they could at Ted.

Now, Mike felt secure, he had most of the people he loved most in the world standing by his side, forming a shield against Ted, and the people who couldn’t accept him. Finally, for the first time since he got home, Mike spoke properly:

‘Dad, Mum. I, I like boys too. I like Will’

But Mike was also joined at that point.

‘And I like Mike’ spoke will, defiantly, showing Ted and Karen his, and Mike’s held hands.

And at this, one last person moved. Mikes Mum, Karen Wheeler, holding Holly in her arms walked slowly up to Mike, at first hesitating, glancing at Ted, but eventually passing Holly to Joyce to hold, and hugging Mike so tightly he thought he might burst.

‘I still love you Mike, whoever you want to like. You’ll always be my baby.’ She whispered soothingly in his ear.

‘Sorry you didn’t get to tell us yourself Mike.’ said Lucas

‘Yeah,’ added Dustin ‘but Will called us, and we thought it was kinda urgent.’ added Dustin.

‘We don’t care what you look like, or who you like.’ said Lucas firmly, looking from Mike, to Will, to Ted, while Dusting nodded, almost violently. ‘I mean look at me, I’m black. People stare at me, but I can’t help it. You like boys too, but you can’t help it. It’s just who you are.’

‘And if people don’t like it, then they’re just going to have to deal with it.’ said Johnathon, looking at Ted, and grasping Will’s other hand.

All eight of them stood (or were held) in the hallway around Mike, like they were some kind of mini-militia, ready to fight off anyone who thought otherwise. Ted looked slightly crippled.

‘Look, Mike. I just don’t know…’ Ted began

‘Ted, then find out.’ replied Karen Wheeler

‘I still love Will the same. He’s still my Will.’ added Joyce

‘And he’s still my Will too.’ added Johnathon.

Ted was worn down.

‘Can someone tell me how this stuff works then at least?’ he asked.

‘Think of a relationship with a girl.’ Began Will ‘It’s that, but with a boy. Simple.’

Ted knew there was no arguing this. He slowly got up from the stair he was sitting on, and walked over to Mike.

‘Look, I’ll try, son. I’ll do my best. It’s only human I guess.’ Ted hesitated, then continued: ‘This is meant to be the future after all, whether we like it or not, and-’ he paused on last time, and said quietly, and quite stiffly, given his complete lack of practice with dealing with emotional children – that was Karen’s job after all:

‘You’re still my son.’

He held out his hand to Mike, and shook it. He then, after a small delay, did the same to Will.

‘But tone down the kissing and shit in front of us’ joked Dustin, and the mood was lightened, ‘It’s bad enough walking in on Lucas and Max!’ And with that, Mike let out a timid, but very real, chuckle.

With this, Mike felt like he had braved the worst. Sure, he’d still have Troy and his friends (and most of the school, come to think of it) to deal with, but now, at least he had his friends, and family around him. It was them against the world, but holding Will’s hand, that didn’t feel so bad.


	7. The Out-Crowd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The School's got a new squad, who decide to go around to Mike's house for a sleepover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh I feel so bad for Dustin in this he must be so internally lonely I just completely ruined the moment whilst writing it.

School was undoubtedly pretty horrific to deal with after that, but aside from the addition of Will to his life in so many new ways, there was another huge difference, that had made his life so much better. After much of Will’s prompting, he had started to talk to El again.

She had made some new friends at school, given that she was a pretty new girl who had just arrived (from another country everyone had thought, given her still only almost-fluency in English) she was the centre of attention (despite keeping her powers a secret, and not choosing to regularly use them, after what had happened before), and so people were naturally gravitated towards her, but where she felt most at home, felt happiest, was still, with Mike. So, one day, when Mike asked if he could talk to her outside of school, she agreed. Mike said how he knew he was wrong to just throw her out like that, and that he was really sorry, and this time, he actually really wanted to still be friends with her; he missed her.

But also, having Will around like this was completely and utterly invaluable to Mike. He loved the feel of Will’s hand in his, the feeling he got inside whenever he saw him, the way Will hugged him around the middle, the motion of every so often, in a quiet spot, their lips touching – that was where he was happiest. He could forget about everything, and everyone else then.

And so, instead of the ‘in-crowd’, an ‘out-crowd’ formed, (nicknamed the ‘Losers Club’ by a couple of the kids at school), consisting of the gay, the zombie, toothless, the tom-boy, the black kid, and often the ‘foreign’ kid. But, they had each other, and also a secret weapon – Steve. One day, when Troy and his gang were feeling as nasty as usual, whilst they were leaving school, they decided to run up to Will, and push him onto the ground, as he was walking with the so-called out-crowd, meaning he dropped everything onto the pavement, before standing over him menacingly, calling him a ‘zombie faggot’. However, what he didn’t realise was that Steve was driving up to them in his car, as he was out early that day, and so came to say hi. And so, even before Mike could reach him, ready – as usual – to get his ass kicked, and destroyed himself, Steve was out of the car, fists clenched, missing Troy’s face by a quarter of an inch, as he turned to run, but still managed to get a deep kick up his backside as he ran away. Mike grabbed Will by the arm, pulled him up, and gave him a hug, after checking he wasn’t too hurt. ‘King Steve’ was still widely known around school as someone never to mess with, especially since someone had apparently seen him carrying a nail-covered baseball bat in his bag one time. Nobody quite knew why Steve had such an emotional attachment to such a bunch of losers, but they daren’t question him.

But again, the time had come for another campaign of D&D, and Mike wanted to make this one perfect (although he had privately admitted to Will that he didn’t think anything could top their last one, where all of this madness had started).

So, at 1pm that Saturday, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and Max (after she was quickly taught how to play by Lucas, and found it rather enjoyable, now she knew how to ‘accidentally’ sometimes dish out the harshest punishments to her friends, all piled into Mike’s basement (El couldn’t quite fully grasp all of the intricacies of it yet, and anyway was away with Hopper), where they shoved 2 tables together, grabbed a few more chairs, and got out the airbeds some people had bought, as they didn’t know how deep into the night this might go – Mike had planned it to be huge.

It truly was one of the best campaigns they had ever completed, full of twists and turns, and even better now Max was playing, with her occasional evil antics. After 10 hours, it was done however, and with no one holding any desire to go home, they all decided to stay at Mike’s to sleep. They all brushed their teeth, and put their pyjamas on, and sat down on their air beds – a single for Dustin, 2 singles sneakily pushed together for Max and Lucas, and a (technically not allowed) double for Mike and Will. With the basement door shut, and an entire empty floor between them and Mr and Mrs Wheeler, they could talk freely late into the night, aside from one moment when they had to all suddenly go dead quiet, when Ted came down for a glass of water. They talked about everything, however, Mike and Will noticed that a lot of the conversations ended up leading back to them, but which they secretly kind of enjoyed. At last, at about 2 in the morning, the knackered kids decided that it was finally time for bed. They all got themselves under the covers, aside from Max, who refused to sleep under a quilt for some reason, and Dustin was asleep within 5 minutes. Max and Lucas got closer and closer together until they finally fell asleep, facing each other, Lucas loosely holding Max’s hand.

It was just Mike and Will left awake now, but, not wanting to wake the others, they just giddily smiled by themselves, and cuddled together to their hearts content.

At around 3am, when Will and Mike were just drifting off, there was a noise from above. Although it was only Nancy walking to the toilet, Will, when he first heard it, sat bolt upright, and looked around like a maniac. Even after all this time, the noise of the Demogorgon was still hardwired into his brain, so he grabbed the first thing that he could reach, in hopes of using it as some crude self-defence weapon. However, that first thing he grabbed was Mike’s arm, wrenching him awake, to see a scared half-to-death Will, sitting bolt upright on his bed. Mike had seen this before, when all that time ago when he used to stay at Will’s house, sleeping on the floor, when Will was having his visions still. At this, Mike quickly sat up too, but not to look around, to notice what Will was doing. After instantly recognising it, he wasted no time at all pulling Will into a tight hug, their chests pressed together, so Will could feel Mike’s heartbeat, and Mike could feel Will’s.

‘Will, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here, it’s okay.’ Mike repeatedly whispered into Will’s ear, as tears welled in his eyes.

‘Why won’t it just leave me alone?’ shakily whispered Will into Mike’s ear ‘I want it to just leave me alone!’ he said, through tears now.

Mike took the corner of his pyjama sleeve, and wiped the tears from Will’s eyes.

‘I don’t know Will. But, it really is gone now, and I’m not gone at all.’

They stayed sat up, chests pressed together for a long time, Mike occasionally whispering soothingly into Will’s ear, and then carried on whilst lying down. After a while, Will calmed down, but didn’t let go of Mike, and Mike didn’t let go of Will. They were now just appreciating having each other, having someone who cared, and so, when Will and Mike finally went back to sleep, Will’s small body was cradled inside of Mike’s, his arms wrapped around him, protecting him from any harm. Will was calm again. He had Mike.


	8. The Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Troy knows, and angry is an understatement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this one got a bit long, I was writing and lost track of word count :)

Sunday seemed to slip away from Will and Mike as though it never had arrived in the first place, and before they knew it, the evening had arrived; school tomorrow. Will hadn’t left Mike’s house the next morning like the others, and for the duration of Sunday, they simply lazed around Mike’s house, keeping themselves to themselves in the basement, as Ted was still acting weirdly around Mike when he was with Will now, no matter how much he tried to hide it. But, as Will cycled away down the road, as Mike looked on from his driveway, all of the feelings of love and safety that he had felt all weekend slowly started to disappear, like the air in a punctured tyre, or a deflated balloon.

If school was bad before, now it was something else entirely. Given that word had obviously eventually got around about the new relationship in their school, the two boys both constantly felt as if, whenever they entered through the gates, their movements and actions were undertaken underneath a spotlight – surrounded by prying eyes, whispered comments, and occasional shouted slurs – no one had ever seen anyone who was actually gay before. But, there was one person who was by far the worst for all of this: Troy. His family were very traditional in their views and ideas, and their prime target to share these to was Troy, and in turn, his gang. The things he said, and what he did to both Mike and Will was shocking over the following weeks and months after he found out – both disgusted and thrilled at the same time when he found out the news – it was against God to be a fucking faggot, but this gave him so much new material to work with, to try and ruin the lives of Mike and Will.

This was, usually, almost bearable from the two boys’ standpoint, if they kept out of Troy and his gang’s way, but there came a day, a week or so later, when everything finally boiled over.

The day began, with Troy storming through the gates hurt and enraged - a heated argument with his Dad had taken place, and there were several red marks upon his body where a belt had evidently come down. Despite the small amount of pity Will couldn’t help feeling for Troy at this moment, he knew that this day could not end well. Troy was like his Dad – if he was angry, he’d release his anger by taking it out on other people. The lessons of the day passed relatively cordially for Mike and Will, given that they had most of their lessons together – and, aside from a quick and discreet lunch-table move by the whole ‘out-crowd’ when they saw the gang approaching, there was no contact with Troy throughout the entire day. However, just as Mike and Will were about to leave, all that was about to change.

Will had been waiting for Mike outside the toilets after school so they could cycle home together alone, a habit they’d both developed, and come to appreciate, when he heard the voice:

‘Hey! Faggot!’

Will’s heart both sunk, and leapt into his mouth at the same time: the day had been going so well (or as well as it could be at school nowadays) until now, and Troy was going to ruin it at the last moment.

‘So, Faggot-’ Troy and his gang stood in a semi-circle around Will, and the wall.

‘How’s life going for the Zombie queer?’ said Troy, at which moment he looked up, and recognised what door he was standing in front of.

‘Oh, waiting for faggot frog-face are we?’ carried on Troy, as one of his cronies blocked the doorway between Will, and the meanwhile unaware Mike.

‘Troy-’ began Will shakily, trying to use his Mother’s advice on what to do with people who couldn’t accept him: ‘Leave me alone.’

At this, Troy actively laughed, but not a laugh of any authenticity, or even a laugh of sarcasm, a manic laugh, one that was almost deranged.

‘Byers. I’ve got bad news for ya. You see, given you’re a fucking queer – I can’t do that. It’s my responsibility to put things right? You know?’ spat Troy, asking his gang members the question.

Then, out of nowhere, he clenched his fists, thrust his knee into Will Byer’s stomach, winding him, and then punched him squarely in the face.

It was at this moment the Mike finally returned from the bathroom, just in time to see the action that had just taken place. Mike, being the caring, loving person he was, was shaken to the bone. With shock. And then with anger. With all of the strength he could muster, he too clenched his fists, punched the bully blocking the doorway in the back of the head, and ran straight up to Troy, and before he had quite registered what had happened, took his fist, and placed it directly in the centre of Troy’s nose.

It took Troy’s mind a few seconds to process all of the events that had just happened in such a short space of time, but once he had, blood beginning to drip from his nose, and a malicious smile crept upon to his face. Mike rushed over to Will, still keeled over in pain, to see how hurt he was, but before he could reach him, he, and Will, were grabbed roughly by the stomachs, and dragged away from each other, held in place on opposite sides of the corridor by two cronies each.

‘Him.’ said Troy at last, finally breaking the silence, pointing a finger at Will’s head: ‘Locker.’

‘No, no, Troy, please, no, I didn’t do anything!’ spluttered Will, tears now forming in his quickly swelling eye, as he was taken, and stuffed into a locker; the door was slammed.

‘Troy you fucking bitch let him ou-’ began shouting Mike, but was soon cut off, as a bully wrapped a hand over his mouth, muffling his words.

‘Can you see Byers?’ said Troy quietly, as the room fell silent again, aside from the sound of Will’s stifled sobs from inside the locker: ‘Can you see, through the grate? I want you to see this.’

And with that, he walked in a beeline towards Mike, and punched him in the face. And he punched him in the face again. And the stomach. And the chest. And face. And face again.

Will screamed. Will screamed like he had never done since the burning of the Mind flayer inside of him. He bashed his small hands against the wall of the locker, unable to break it, unable to help a helpless Mike, being held still by one bully, whilst another punched the one love of his life in the face.

‘Drop him.’ at last ordered Troy, to one of the bullies, as Mike fell to the ground, sprawled across the middle of the school corridor floor, his face seeping blood onto it. But Troy, looking like a maniac, a psychopath, and his father, still wasn’t done. The adrenaline of the moment had captured him, his father’s rage had taken hold of him, any rational thoughts weren’t coming to him.

He kicked Mike on the floor. He kicked him again. Hard. He kicked him a total of 9 times, each time aiming at a different area, whilst Will cried and screamed from inside the locker, his prison, whilst all Mike could do was splutter and grunt.

Finally, Troy knew enough was enough. Thoughts were racing through his head now, looking down and finally, truly, seeing Mike for the first time in front of him, crumpled, a bloody mess on the floor in front of him. He ran. He turned, and ran straight out of the front doors of the school, out of the gates, and beyond, soon followed by his cronies.

Finally, amidst Will’s continued sobs, Mike heaved his bruised and bloody body from the floor, crawled to Will’s locker, and unlocked it, before collapsing to the floor again. Will, uncaring for his own swelling black eye, extracted himself from the locker as fast as he could, and ran over to Mike.

‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God-’ moaned Will, not knowing what to say, or what to do. ‘Mike I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean this to happen I swear I’m so sorry…’

Mike finally raised his eyes to meet with Will’s at that point, and at that moment, thousands of words were said, just through the emotion in Mike’s two eyes. The only verbal words Mike could muster at that point were:

‘Your house. Please’ he breathed, his chest in the process of bruising, after being kicked and punched by Troy.

Will needed no more instruction at this. He did the best job he could, with the limiting factor of his height, and put Mike’s arm around his shoulders, before heaving him upright – meanwhile Mike saw the edge of his vision go black, the rest go blurry – and, Will supporting most of his weight, as they walked outside to their bikes.

Before they left, Will, being the good student as well as the caring person that he was, checked for any broken bones or fractures that Mike might’ve had – he got the information on how to do it in a book Joyce had bought him for Christmas a year or two ago – but Mike was lucky. Only cuts and bruises – no broken bones. And so, Mike hauled himself onto the back of Will’s bike, wrapped his arms around his waist, and they slowly set off – Will multitasking by holding Mike’s bike by the handlebars at the same time.

They arrived at the Byers’ house at last, and found it empty – Johnathon was out with Steve and Nancy, and Joyce was out at work. Will placed Mike on his bed lying down, and did the best job he could patching him up with their first aid kit.

Will spoke after a while:

‘I’m sorry.’ he began: ‘You don’t always have to stand up there and protect me. I’ll still like you the same, and I know you’ll still like me even if you don’t do it.’

‘Will-’ began Mike: ‘you know I’m always gonna do this. And I don’t care what my face turns into, as long as you’re okay.’

‘But I care. I care what happens to you.’

‘But I care what happens to you too. How about I just hold in my pee until I get home next time.’ Said Mike, with a weak smile, moving his eyes and head up, no matter how much that hurt, to lock eyes with Will, to try and reassure him.

‘Who can we tell about what Troy did to you?’

‘And then get beaten up even more afterwards?’

It was injustice. It was a cruel world. They couldn’t tell anyone what had just happened, because, even if Troy was punished for his actions, what he’d do afterwards would be somehow even worse than what he did that day.

Mike spent the rest of the day and evening at Will’s house, both boys changing out of their slightly bloody clothes and having a shower, before sitting down on the sofa together, both wearing oversized hoodies (Christmas gifts from Will’s distant relatives) and sweatpants, watching TV whilst drinking hot chocolate Will had made for them, together.

Will put his arm around Mike, and Mike put his arms around Will, and they hugged each other tightly. God, they needed it.


	9. The Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything comes tumbling down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I just thought there was too much fluff in this fic so far, so I felt the need to mess everything up.  
> \- A trigger warning for this one I guess, I know it's rated Teen, but it includes talk of self-harm and divorce.  
> \- I know I haven’t really mentioned the parent’s relationship in the fic before, but from the TV show it’s pretty obvious.

As Karen Wheeler drove back to Ted and her house that evening after going, by herself, to a doctor’s appointment, she wasn’t feeling at her best. It was just the beginning of the Christmas holidays, and besides having a cold, she was feeling especially sick, given that she’d been working so hard these past few months, cooking and cleaning and prepping the house for Christmas, and so felt like she hadn’t seen her family in an age. She was secretly hoping deep within herself that Ted would have surpassed his normal levels of effort, and cooked a dinner for the family, so she could at last have a day off. She knew that this was unlikely, she often felt like she was the resident servant of the house at the moment, and hadn’t received anything even as small as a ‘thanks’ recently. This thought festered inside her spitefully all the way home in the car.

She arrived, finally, at the front door to the house, where she noticed the snow still hadn’t been cleared from the driveway as her car rolled up onto it, something she specifically told Mike to do before she got back. She let out a small ‘ugh’ of disappointment and enmity as she realised this, before getting out of the car, slamming the door shut, and dragging her tired feet up to the front door, still secretly hoping to walk in, and find a cooked meal waiting for her.

However, the door creakily opened – that needed to be fixed – and she stepped inside. There didn’t seem to be a person in sight, or any ‘welcome home honey’ echoing through the house. She took off her shoes, and walked through to the kitchen. Plates, from breakfast, and then lunch, littered the shelves and in the sink, waiting to be washed up, thanks to Ted and the kids. She let out another angry scowl, but this time louder – the smallest thing they could’ve done to help they simply didn’t do, because they were too damn lazy. They’d better be doing something pretty freaking important Karen thought to herself as she walked through the house, still seeing no other sign of human life.

However, finally she found a closed door, turned the handle and opened it. Could this be a surprise the Kids and Ted were planning for her, a thank you gift? But, the sight that fell before her eyes was the opposite. Ted, Mike, Holly, and Nancy were all sat together in the living room watching Karen’s favourite family Christmas film on a new VHS, by themselves, without telling her. She stopped in her tracks in the doorframe to the room, staring upon the scene of the whole family, apart from her, watching her favourite film together on the sofa, without bothering to wait, or let her know.

‘Oh hi honey’ murmured Ted.

‘What’s for dinner?’ added Mike.

‘Ooh yeah I’m hungry.’ finalised Nancy.

This was the catalyst. Karen Wheeler had just flipped. It wasn’t just the film – she’d get over that – it was everything that they had done – everything they hadn’t done, over the past few months – years, to make her feel like a worthless fucking slave. She stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her, and ran upstairs, hearing no pause in the VHS behind her as she departed. Ted groaned, but still continued to watch the film. This was the situation for a few quiet seconds, until Mike, Nancy, Holly, and Ted heard a huge crash, and a bang from upstairs. Karen Wheeler had had enough. Enough of being the family servant, enough of never getting even the smallest thank you, enough of her main roles being a waitress, and a cleaner to Ted and the kids, despite the fact that they should be putting just as much work than she had being doing at the moment.

Ted groaned again: ‘I’ll go talk to her, you guys watch your film.’ He said before standing up, and slowly lumbering out of the room.

Mike felt suddenly a bit sick. He realised now that he probably should have been a bit more grateful to his Mum then, and ask her how her day was, before moving straight onto the topic of dinner, but even now, this was most out of character for his Mum. She was usually so calm and kind, he had barely seen her truly angry at all in his life, or at least not in this way. He could begin to hear slightly muffled voices from upstairs, as Nancy had paused the VHS:

‘Oh Karen, for fuck’s sake, that was a perfectly good lamp, there was no need to break it. Just because we watched a film without you.’ – Mike got slightly more scared, he had never really heard his Dad talk to his Mum like this either.

‘You know full well Ted that this wasn’t just about the film.’ Began Karen emotionally: ‘What about the washing up, what about the driveway-’ (Mike’s stomach suddenly dropped) ‘- what about all the SHIT that I’ve done for you and the kids over the past few months – fuck it, the past few YEARS, without even a goddamn word of thanks? I’m not your _slave_ Ted, I’m a fucking human being.’

‘Look, I’m sorry if we didn’t welcome you through the door with a red carpet’ began Ted: ‘We just forgot you weren’t here, alright? You’re being immature, Karen.’

‘You know what Ted? I fucking know. You always forget I’m here, but you and the kids would be fucking DEAD without me, and do you give a shit if _I’m_ here or if I’m dead? No you don’t!’

‘Karen, look I know you’re angry, but this isn’t the best way to deal with it, you’re scaring the kids stiff-’ argued Ted.

‘Whatever, I want them to hear!’ yelled Karen back at Ted.

‘Karen, that is _not_ the right thing to do here-’

‘What do you want me to do instead then with my SHITTY life? Fucking cut myself? Because I could, Ted. I fucking could, you know. Thanks to you lot of shitheads.’

Mike, and Nancy were petrified.

‘You know what, Karen, if you’re so fucking amazing at everything, why don’t I just fuck off? I mean it’s all you’re telling me to do right now. Why don’t I just fuck off, and not come back, leave fucking Queen Karen to be appreciated, without shitty Ted around, because it’s not like he earns all of the MONEY around here or anything!’

‘You know what Ted, I don’t care! Maybe you should just fuck off, and don’t come back! I don’t need your shit anymore, I can manage on my own! I, don’t, CARE!’

‘Really?’ shouted Ted now, although slightly taken aback.

‘Yes Ted, really.’

‘Tell me honestly Karen,’ began Ted, the anger displaced from his voice; replaced by fear – never seen before in him: ‘because, because I really don’t know right now… Do you, honestly, love me?’

This was the worst thing Ted could have possibly said. The argument continued, to greater and greater intensity on Karen’s part, but Mike couldn’t, and didn’t want to hear a word more. He ran straight out of the front door, luckily never bothering to take off his muddy trainers/sneakers when he came in, and left without a coat, into the snow outside.

He didn’t stop running, and then walking when he got an immediate stitch, until he reached Hawkins Park, a solid 15 minutes away, where he always went when he needed to calm down. He scraped the snow off, and sat down on a swing, and tried to order his thoughts. He had NEVER heard his parents argue like that before. Karen had sounded so angry, what if it was all his fault? He knew he should have shovelled that driveway, but it was so cold, and so he just sat inside and watched the film instead. But that just pissed her off even more. He tried not to think about what his Mum had said about cutting – just the thought of it made him feel sick, not with grossness, but with fear – his Mum. His own fucking – no, don’t use that word, he told himself, filled with guilt – Mum. He tried to push the thought to the back of his mind, but it kept resurfacing. And what if his Dad took his Mum by her word, and just left? Ted wasn’t as close to Mike as his Mum was, but he didn’t know what he’d do with himself if he just did. This had all turned so fast, in five minutes it had gone from a cosy dream on the sofa, to a horrible nightmare in the snow.

All of these thoughts swirled around Mike’s head for around 10 minutes, like some poisonous potion, until this small torture was finally broken.

‘Mike?’ said Will tentatively, from behind Mike’s back.

Mike nearly fell out of his swing in shock – he had thought he was all alone in the park.

‘How did you know I was here?’

‘I arrived at your house to bring you a present-’ Will showed Mike the artfully wrapped present in his hand, with the attached card: ‘-and Nancy told me you’d just left a couple of minutes ago, and not to come in, so I came here, because I didn’t know anywhere else you might be.’ Will took his first proper look at Mike: ‘Are you alright?’

This was another catalyst. Everything Mike had heard, everything swirling around and around his head right then he vomited up in a huge rant to Will, who stood there quietly, unsure of what to do with himself, but patiently listened.

‘Mike, I’m… I’m sorry. For you. I don’t know what to say. I’m sure they’ll be fine, I reckon, you’ll be okay.’

‘Yeah well it’s all okay you saying that, your parents are already fucking divorced.’ Mike spluttered. He immediately regretted it.

You could see the pain in Will’s eyes – all the times Lonnie had called Will a faggot, still, the trauma of him leaving, walking in on his Mum crying before, often every day, Johnathon too evidently distraught, and now Bob – so full of hope, his new loving dad, torn to shreds, along with any hope of his Mum being truly happy. Will, who was leaning into Mike to give him a hug, suddenly drew back, and went cold.

‘No, Mike. No.’ said Will coldly, but with a pang of emotion, hiding nothing from his face. He still carefully placed Mike’s present on the ground before him, turned on the spot, and walked away. Out of the park, and down the road, the way he came. Not angrily, and whilst still with a purpose, sadly.

Mike knew he should never have said that, even more so after the loss of Bob, the fact Will only had one parent was always an especially touchy subject with Will, but by the time this had all formulated in Mike’s mind, the incoming blizzard had obscured any chance of finding Will by now. It hurt him more that Will wasn’t angry, he could never be angry with Mike, but he was hurt – with no Mike to give him a hug, and cuddle with him on the sofa until he felt better.

It seemed everything in Mike’s life was now suddenly crumbling, when it had all seemed so secure only 15 minutes ago. Will – gone, his parents – who knows.

Mike really was all alone now in the park as he sat on the swing, his tears freezing up and turning ice cold as they rolled down his face. He shivered, but had no one to hold him, no one to tell him that everything was going to be alright. Will had been there, but so soon, but so damn soon, he had fucking ruined that too. His parent’s relationship, his and Will’s relationship, all up in the air, in the blink of an eye. Mike couldn’t remember particularly disliking being alone before, but he did now. Mike was scared.


	10. The Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lonely Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a depressing segue chapter to be totally honest, but I found it really interesting to write.

Mike sat on the swing for well over an hour, a thin layer of snow building up on top of his head. He didn’t notice he was shivering, or that no one else came to look for him – or no one apart from Will – at 22h45 in a snowstorm – he was too focused on what he had just said, and what he had just heard.

Finally, he forced his body to stand up, suddenly realising now that he couldn’t move his fingers, and walked home. He took the long way around home, so that by the time he arrived, tiptoeing back up the driveway, it was 23h30. Despite the fact that in just 30 minutes it would be Christmas Eve, this was the last place Mike wanted to be. He didn’t want to go back to the hellhole he just left, have to look his mother or his father in the eye – he just wanted to go back, only a few days, where he could snuggle up on the sofa with Will in their hoodies and sweatpants, and watch a film together at the Byers house, what he always did when he didn’t feel like going back home – but now even that was impossible too.

Mike was just about to knock on the front door, but decided he couldn’t face his parents tonight. He didn’t know if any of them were still in the house anyway, one of the cars had disappeared from the drive. Instead, he clambered up onto the roof, and, like Steve, as quietly as he could, tapped on Nancy’s window, to see if she would let him in. Contrary to the norm, Nancy obligingly opened the window for Mike, wincing as in icy-cold blast of air hit her, and let Mike clamber through the it, quickly scraping all the snow off him that he could with his hands, and chucking it back onto the snowy roof outside. Nancy opened her mouth to speak to Mike, but he didn’t want to hear anyone say a thing anymore – the only thing that had caused that day was pain. Instead, he simply shook his head a little, and walked out of the bedroom.

After a deadly-silent stop in his bedroom for some dry clothes, and the bathroom to clean his teeth, Mike crept down the stairs to the ground floor, avoiding looking at the room where his Mum had walked into before, and snuck down the next set of stairs to the basement. He took off all of his clothes, and flung them carelessly into a pile in the corner of the room, his skinny, muscle-less body shivering in the relative darkness, before putting on his pyjamas, and not knowing what to do with himself.

Eventually, he didn’t turn on the small TV, or open his diary, or try to occupy himself doing anything in particular – he just sat there, with the radio on quietly, playing slow dance music, and finally gave in, and let the thoughts swirl around in his head. He had managed to supress it for a while, but now he cried until his eyes were puffy and sore, hoping to feel eventually some sense of catharsis, but instead, his feeling of culpability remained. Eventually, at 3 am, in the chair he was slumped in, he fell asleep, in early Christmas Eve morning. Will’s present lay unopened on the opposite side of the table his head lay on, the custom wrapping paper smudged with the melted snow, and the occasional tear.

This was the first Christmas in Mike and Will’s life that they both didn’t look forward to. Lucas and Dustin came around to both of their houses separately to give both of them presents, but Mike still didn’t talk to Will – he just didn’t know what to say to him, he felt too embarrassed. And so, Will’s Christmas present sat on the shelf in his basement, something that he’d been planning for months, but something that would most likely go to waste. He still never opened the wrapping of it though to use himself – it just sat there, as a physical reminder of the huge hole now in Mike’s life.

Will, too felt the absence of Mike dearly, and Joyce wondered why there was no appearance of Mike at their door on early Christmas morning, asking if he could come in. Will said Mike was feeling sick, but Joyce, not being an idiot, seeing the anguish in Will’s eyes, knew that this was not true.

Ted, after disappearing in his car on the 23rd, did reappear, and the two reconciled, very stiffly, but Mike had to endure a very forced and icy Christmas dinner with his family, with no one who he felt comfortable to escape to when things got awkward. Ted, obviously still scared about what had been said before, was on his consistent best behaviour, however given that this was so unlike him, it only made how everything was not normal all the more conspicuous. Karen too, eventually, once she had calmed down and slept on it, realised how much she had scared Holly, Mike, and Nancy, as well as Ted, and so was extra nice to her children at any chance she could get, obviously feeling guilty too, however this too only made the elephant in the room all-the-more obvious.

Christmas day came and passed, and, along with the rest of the holidays, it passed painfully slowly. Every day felt like several with the vacancy of Will, but on Wednesday January 2nd, the last day of the holidays was upon Mike. Aside from Dustin and Lucas dropping their presents off at Mike’s house, and Mike giving them theirs, he had had no contact whatsoever with his friends over the holiday, instead opting to confine himself to his basement, playing with his gifts by himself, and finally feeling something he hadn’t felt in a very long while, what he had been taking for granted for so long – what it was like to be lonely. He wasn’t sure he could take it – he was lonely and depressed at home, but without Will, it’d most likely be as bad, if not worse, at school.

However, the first day of school was upon Mike, and neither he nor Will thought they could take it. Will was (rightfully – he thought) hurt at what Mike had said, but was now scared half-to-death that Mike was angry at him for leaving, and had been holding a grudge against him for all this time. He dragged himself out of bed on the Thursday morning (what a stupid day he thought for school to start he thought), his body clock still behind by a few hours from the holidays, and got himself dressed.

‘Won’t it be nice to see your friends again today?’ asked Joyce brightly as Will walked into the kitchen, masking the slight sound of desperation in her voice, as Will to had had barely any contact with his friends over the break either.

‘Yeah, sure, I guess’ Will replied non-committedly, before finishing the rest of his breakfast in silence, and vacating the house quickly into the car with Johnathon.

For Mike and Will, that day was the worst day they had both had at school for a _very_ long time. Worse than even when they both had gotten beaten up by Troy and his gang. This was because, even then, they had each other, and this time they had no one. Both of them were too kind to force their friends to choose which friend to sit with, as Will believed Mike was angry at him, and Mike was too embarrassed to go near Will. Therefore, in their classes that day, they both sat by themselves, on lonely tables, in different corners of the room. Mike didn’t know what to do with himself, where to put his limbs, how to sit, what to write in his lessons, he felt so exposed on his own – still so exposed to the daily gay comments and abuse from his classmates, but them now only a constant reminder of what he was missing. He could feel the eyes on him as always, but this time he had no one to turn to, to pretend he didn’t notice them – all he had was thin air. The day ended, and he still had had no contact with Will, and so he left, alone on his bike, after hiding in the toilets for a few minutes, so he could be sure everyone else (mainly Will) had left.

This couldn’t carry on.


	11. The Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something had to happen eventually, so it did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just felt like I had gone overboard with angst recently, and Will is too much of a nice person to stay away from Mike for that long, so I felt something had to break.

The next day looked like it’d be the same as the last. Will: cycling today, but as alone as ever, Mike: the same freezing cold cycle as yesterday. They both arrived and sat down in homeroom without looking at each other, feeling both an almost magnetic draw, and repulsion between them at the same time, the two of them equally wanting to throw up.

The day passed like normal, Mike and Will both separately making forced conversation with Dustin, Lucas, El, and Max, and steering the conversation forcefully away from their boyfriend(?) whenever the topic came up – they just couldn’t bear to talk about it. Again, painfully slowly, the end of the day came, and Mike took his new daily trip to the toilet stall, to make sure he’d avoid Will. After about five minutes, he decided he had wasted enough time, and so flushed the empty toilet, and exited the stall. To his horror, at exactly the same time, there was a flush in the stall directly to his right, the door opening almost simultaneously, and there was someone walking out.

It was Will.

Mike’s stomach did a backflip, as did Will’s. They stood, solid as a rock for a moment, just staring at each other, before both of them, after awkwardly and silently washing their hands at breakneck pace, left the bathroom. Will waited a few seconds after Mike left, giving him time to getting away, cursing himself every second that he did so, before finally leaving.

Mike, in a second thrill of horror, saw Will’s bike parked across from his, and almost ran to remove his from its stand, and get out of there. However, just as he was about to set off, he heard a few sudden rapid footsteps, and a shout.

‘Mike! Please, Mike.’ shouted Will from the school exit door, his voice breaking halfway through his sentence.

Mike braced himself for the worst, and turned around.

‘Yeah?’ he called back, trying to sound as normal and innocent as possible, despite both of them knowing that was an outright lie.

‘Can we… Can we talk, please? Look, I found somewhere really cool over Christmas, and I want to show it you, we can cycle there, because I just want to talk to you. Please.’ Will said guiltily and hurriedly.

‘Yeah, sure.’ admitted Mike, finally: ‘I think we should.’

He wanted to say sorry there and then, and hated himself for not doing so, but just didn’t have the courage.

And so the two boys got on their bikes together, and Mike followed Will in as he cycled quickly to whatever destination they were headed to. Mike could feel the silence between them as almost something tangible over those 10 or so minutes – he had never had any trouble talking to Will before, but now it was like there was a barrier in between them.

After what seemed like an age for both Mike and Will, they arrived at their destination: it was right on the border of Hawkins town (naturally on the opposite side to the laboratory), and it was the foot of a fairly small, but steep hill. Still in silence, the boys climbed up the hill, and sat down at the top. The view was pretty incredible Mike had to admit to himself, you could see almost all of Hawkins from here, laid out almost like a map.

‘Look, Mike. I’m sorry. I really a-’ began Will after a few seconds of both of them taking in the view.

‘Wait what?’ spluttered back Mike, taken aback – why was Will apologising to him?

‘No please look Mike, just hear me out – then you can be angry.’ said Will quickly. Mike was in no way angry, and had no idea what was going on, but he agreed anyway: ‘Look, I know I overreacted that night, in the park, but I was just hurt, okay? I mean, I’m sorry, I just took it too far, that’s all. It’s just with Bob and everything, and I keep thinking about the stuff Lonnie said to me, and I realise now that that was the wrong thing to do, because you were hurt, but I just overreacted, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’

Mike looked at Will, dumbfounded at first, but then felt incredibly guilty.

‘Will, oh my God. I’m so sorry. I’m, really, not angry at you at all. The only reason I didn’t talk to you is because I was just really, stupidly, embarrassed, that I did that to you, when you didn’t deserve it at all, you were just trying to help, and I pushed you away and insulted you.’ he paused for a second: ‘I’m really sorry Will. I don’t know why I said that – I was just emotional I guess, but it was wrong, and I know I shouldn’t have done it. I’m really sorry.’

Will looked at Mike for a few seconds, directly in the eye, and could see the tears welling there. He replied at last:

‘It’s okay Mike… I, I know what it’s like. You didn’t mean it. I’m sorry for overreacting too.’

‘You don’t have to be!’ retorted Mike quickly .

‘But I still am,’ said Will quietly.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Mike put his hand out, and Will slipped his hand into Mikes, and they lay down upon the grass at the top of the hill, being lightly tickled by the uncut grass, gazing at Hawkins town in the early winter sunset.

‘How did you find this place?’

‘You know when I sometimes get panic attacks still-’ began Will, and Mike felt his stomach twist with guilt again: ‘After I slow my breathing down enough, I find cycling helps me to get all my thoughts in order, you know? And I found this place.’

‘I think it’s beautiful.’ said Mike.

‘Yeah, me too.’ replied Will.

‘Yeah Will, I think you’re beautiful too’ said Mike with a laugh, despite knowing what Will really meant. This laugh was returned by Will:

‘I think you’re beautiful as well, Mike Wheeler.’

The two then lay down, hand in hand, and watched the sky grow slowly darker, simply appreciating each other’s company, until they both decided to go back, as Will, even now, still wasn’t great at cycling in the dark.

They cycled back together, slowly building up a conversation again, although steering clear away from any family matter of Will or Mike for the time being. Mike cycled with Will all the way back up to Will’s house, something he’d been insisting on doing recently, despite the fact Will really didn’t need it. But, the parting moment had arrived, and it was time for Mike to leave. As he began to turn his bike around, Will spoke:

‘Mike? Thanks. It’s… It’s good to have you back – I missed you.’

‘I missed you too Will, really.’

Will waited a moment, just appreciating how the light from the streetlamp played in the pupils of Mike’s eyes, before saying:

‘Okay then, I’ll see you tomorrow? I’ll call you on the radio.’

‘Alright, see you then, love you.’

For the second time that day, Mike’s stomach did a backflip. He just said that out loud – he’d been saying it every time he left Will beforehand, but that was in his mind. Will looked almost as shocked – his pupils visibly dilated, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up – before he replied with a small smile, looking deep into Mike’s eyes:

‘I love you too, Mike.’

At this point, Mike got off his bike, and walked up to Will, standing directly under the streetlamp, before taking his face in his shaky hands, and kissing him. This kiss was different to the rest of theirs they had shared recently – this one was filled with so much more emotion – so much being said, with one small action. Their kiss lasted a few seconds, before they broke apart, and Will pulled Mike into a tight hug, burying his head into his neck, and resting there. He, and Mike, felt content again, their arms wrapped around each other having the same effect as a mother’s arms wrap around a baby, soothing it, letting it know that everything is going to be alright.

At this moment, Joyce Byers appeared at her door. She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, coffee mug clutched in her hands, watching her child’s weak, but loving smile slowly appear on his face, with tears beginning to seep from his closed eyes. She had known something was wrong, but, finally, it looked as if everything was going to be okay now.

‘Will, honey, is that you?’

The two boys broke apart. Will sniffed, and then replied:

‘Yeah, Mum, it’s me, one sec, I’m coming.’ Will turned to Mike, smiled a giddy smile, and said to him quietly: ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?’

‘I’ll see you Will’ replied Mike, also with a giddy smile on his face: ‘Now go inside before your Mum gets worried’

Will slowly unclasped his hands from Mikes, and ran inside, although stopping at the door to look back to grin like a maniac at Mike, who laughed, before rushing off when his Mum shouted his name again.

Mike couldn’t stop smiling all the way home, he felt like screaming this new revelation from the rooftops. They had already had their ups and downs, he and Will, but it was okay, because they both _loved_ each other – Will Byers had just said he loved him.

Mike, smile still solidly on his face after even half an hour, jumped into bed, planning when, and how to wake up tomorrow and go and surprise Will. He loved him. Wasn’t that brilliant?


End file.
